Current Status of Contraceptive Vaccines

Authors: Goel NK* and Dandona S

Volume 6, Issue 1

Abstract

The rapidly increasing global population has bowed the attention of family planning and associated reproductive health programmes in the direction of providing a safe and reliable method to limit family size. The world population is estimated to exceed a phenomenal 10 billion by the year 2050 A.D., thus presenting a real jeopardy of overpopulation with severe implications for the future. There are over one million elective abortions globally each year due to unintended pregnancies having devastating impact on reproductive health of women worldwide, despite the availability of various contraceptive methods. This highlights the need for the development of newer and improved contraceptive methods. A novel contraceptive approach that is gaining substantial attention is “Contraceptive Vaccines” targeting gamete production, gamete outcome, or gamete function. These vaccines may also find applications in clinical situations, such as in uterine fibroids, polycystic ovary syndrome, endometriosis and precocious puberty, that require the inhibition of increased secretions of sex steroids. Antisperm antibodies (ASAs) are invariably present in both females and males. However, the degree of ASA occurrence may vary according to individual and gender. Although the extent of infertility due to ASAs alone is yet to be determined, it has been found in almost 9–12% of patients who are infertile due to different causes. Vaccines targeting gamete outcome primarily focus on the HCG molecule. The HCG vaccine is the first vaccine to undergo Phase I and II clinical trials in humans. The other type of anti-hCG vaccine, developed with support from the WHO Task Force on Vaccines for Fertility Regulation, is based on a portion (the carboxyterminal peptide or CTP) of the beta subunit of the hormone (ß-hCG-CTP). This review is an attempt to analyze the current status and progress of immunocontraceptive approaches with respect to their role as a future fertility control agents.

Keywords: GnRH; Follicle-Stimulating Hormone

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